© Baker, J.L. (2009) Marine Species of Conservation Concern in South Australia Full citation Baker, J.L. (2009) Marine Species of Conservation Concern in South Australia: Volume 1 - Bony and Cartilaginous Fishes. Report for the South Australian Working Group for Marine Species of Conservation Concern. J. Baker (consultant); Science and Conservation Division, and Coast and Marine Conservation branches of S.A. Department for Environment and Heritage (DEH); Marine and Coastal Community Network of S.A. (MCCN), and Threatened Species Network (TSN). Web version published by Reef Watch, South Australia.

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Southern Cardinalfish / Southern Gobbleguts

Family Name:	Apogonidae
Scientific Name:	Vincentia conspersa (Klunzinger, 1872)
Recommended Status in S.A:	Least Concern
Rationale:  The Southern Cardinalfish / Gobbleguts is included here because (i) Vincentia cardinalfish are benthic, mouth-brooding species with localised reproduction, and these characteristics may increase the vulnerability of such species to site-specific impacts; (ii) the species is strongly associated with seagrass beds and vegetated reefs, which may increase its vulnerability to localised impacts (such as decline in cover of seagrass or macroalgae); (iii) the species is part of the bycatch in prawn trawl and other fisheries, but no risk assessments have been undertaken for Vincentia populations. Despite these characteristics, the recommended status for this species is Least Concern, due to its widespread distribution in S.A., its apparent abundance in some areas, and its broader, more general habitat requirements compared with the apparent habitat specificity of other species of Vincentia.

Page Contents

Current Conservation Status

No listings known

Distribution

Southern Australia

V. conspersa has a south-eastern distribution. It is found in S.A.; Victoria (e.g. Port Phillip Bay; Wilsons Promontory; Corner Inlet, and other areas); Bass Strait and Kent Group Islands, and Tasmania (Edgar, 1984 and 1991; Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994; Jordan et al., 1998; O’Hara et al., 2002; Anonymous, 2002b; Edmunds and Hart, 2003; Hart et al., 2003; Plummer et al., 2003).
The western limit of the distribution is reported to be the eastern Great Australian Bight (GAB) (Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994).

South Australia

Southern Cardinalfish is recorded throughout South Australia, from the far west to the southeast.
Examples of locations in S.A. where the species has been recorded by survey and by recreational divers include Nuyts Archipelago (Hutchins, 2005); Pearson I., Flinders I. in the Investigator group, and other locations in the eastern Great Australian Bight (Kuiter, 1983; Branden et al., 1986); northern Spencer Gulf (e.g. Port Pirie area), central, south-eastern and south-western Spencer Gulf (Carrick, 1997; K. Smith, unpubl. data, 1996, 2003; McDonald, 2000; LEEPland Tourist Association, 2005; S.A. Museum data, cited by R. Foster, pers. comm., 2006; Currie and Sorokin, 2010); western Gulf St Vincent (GSV), such as the Edithburgh and Stansbury areas (K. Smith, unpubl. data, 2002-05; photograph by J. Lewis, 2004), and off Port Giles (Fairhead et al., 2002a); north-eastern Kangaroo Island (e.g. Pelican Lagoon and other locations) (S.A. Museum data, cited by R. Foster, pers. comm., 2006, 2007); Port River-Barker Inlet Estuary (Jones et al., 1996; Jackson and Jones, 1999); metropolitan area of GSV, such as the artificial reefs / wrecks off Glenelg, and Hallett Cove reef (MLSSA, 1999; K. Smith, unpubl. data, 2004); locations along the Fleurieu Peninsula, such as Rapid Bay Jetty (K. Smith, unpubl. data, 2001-04), and Second Valley (D. Muirhead, MLSSA, 1986 data); and Encounter Bay (J. Baker. pers. obs., and photograph by H. Crawford, 2008).
At the Investigator Group of islands in the eastern GAB, Kuiter reported the species to be very common at all depths, and at all sites sampled in that area (Kuiter, 1983).
There are numerous records of V. conspersa specimens from S.A., held in various Australian museums. Examples of locations in S.A. where specimens have been collected include Smoky Bay, Streaky Bay and other bays of the eastern GAB; waters out of Coffin Bay on lower Eyre Peninsula; both sides of northern Spencer Gulf (including various records from the Port Pirie and Whyalla areas, and one from as far north as Port Augusta); central eastern Spencer Gulf (e.g. Port Victoria, and Moonta Bay area); southern and south-western (including Sir Joseph Banks group) Spencer Gulf; southern Yorke Peninsula (e.g. Edithburgh, and other locations near the “heel” of the peninsula); along the Orontes Bank in western GSV; waters off metropolitan GSV (e.g. Outer Harbor, Glenelg, Brighton, Sellicks); Investigator Strait; northern and eastern Kangaroo I.; Encounter Bay, and the upper South East / Lacepede Bay area (Australian Museum records, W.A. Museum records, S.A. Museum records, Museum of Victoria records, cited in OZCAM database, 2007).

Habitat

The species occurs on reefs and also in nearshore seagrass beds, and in estuaries.
Generally, V. conspersa is reported to occur on coastal reefs (Hutchins and Swainston, 1986), and in the vicinity of rock ledges, from the shallows (0m) to over 65m (Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994; Australian Museum data, cited in Australian Museum, 2006i; South Australian Museum data, cited by R. Foster, pers. comm., 2006).
In Tasmania, V. conspersa is abundant in the Tamar River, and is also found in the Derwent Estuary (Green and Coughanowr, 2003) and in various bays (e.g. Norfolk Bay, Georges Bay, amongst others) (Jordan et al., 1998). It is also found in harbours in the south (e.g. Port Davey and Bathurst Harbour) (Edgar, 1991, cited by RPDC, 2002).
The species has also been recorded as a common cryptic fish in shallow subtidal reef habitats in Victoria (Edmunds and Hart, 2003). Divers have recorded the species in caves, crevices and in rubble, where it hides during daylight hours.
In South Australia, the species has been recorded from both reefs and seagrass beds. Kuiter (1983) reported that, at the Investigator Group of islands on the west coast of S.A., adult V. conspersa were common on rocky reef, but juveniles were found in open spaces, in Posidonia seagrass beds. In the South Australian Museum, there are numerous juvenile specimens of V. conspersa that were collected from seagrass beds in shallow estuarine waters, such as Pelican Lagoon on north-eastern Kangaroo Island, and the mouth of Davis Creek (and other creeks) near Port Pirie in Spencer Gulf (South Australian Museum; R. Foster, S.A. Museum, pers. comm., 2006).
V. conspersa has been recorded in Posidonia seagrass habitat in some parts of Victoria (Ferrell et al., 1993; O’Hara et al., 2002, cited by Plummer et al., 2003).
In a number of bays and estuaries in Tasmania, V. conspersa has been recorded in abundance (as a resident species) in nearshore Heterozostera tasmanica seagrass beds (Jordan et al., 1998). The species has also been recorded in low numbers in Posidonia australis seagrass beds on the Tasmanian coast, but in higher numbers on Flinders I. (Jordan et al., 1998).

Notes on Biology and Behaviour

Growth

V. conspersa grows to around 12cm or 14cm (Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994; Australian Museum, 2006i).
One of the maximum sizes recorded for V. conspersa is 0.028kg (Hutchins and Swainston, 1986, 2001), being a specimen taken at Victor Harbor, S.A., in 1968 (Australian Anglers Association, 2003).

Diet

The species is known to eat mysids and other small invertebrates (Fenton, 1996). During a survey in Spencer Gulf, the gut contents of 3 specimens were examined, and of those with food still present, they contained about 47% each of gammarid crustaceans and Metapenaeopsis prawns, and 6% other crustacea (Currie and Sorokin, 2010).

Reproduction

In Vincentia, there is reported to be a distinct pairing during courtship and spawning (Breder and Rosen, 1966, cited in Froese and Pauly, 2007).
Members of the Apogonidae have demersal eggs with adhesive filaments (Mooi, 1990).
The eggs of Vincentia species are incubated in the mouth of the males until they hatch, improving the young’s chances of survival (Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994).
At Edithburgh in S.A., one diver (J. Lewis) has photographed a male V. conspersa brooding eggs inside its mouth, resting inside a Pinna shell.
Under laboratory conditions, the egg clutch is reported to be about 140 to 200 eggs, incubated orally by the male V. conspersa (Vagelli, 2005). Egg development time may be temperature- dependent, as shown by laboratory studies in which development time varied by two weeks with a 4 degree variation in temperature (Vagelli, 2005).

Other Information

Studies in Tasmania have shown seasonal variation in abundance of V. conspersa (Jordan et al., 1998).

Fisheries Information

Commercial

In S.A., the species has been recorded as a minor component of bycatch in the Spencer Gulf prawn trawl fishery. For example, 20 Southern Cardinalfish were recorded from 32 trawl tows, in a sampling program during the mid 1990s (Carrick, 1997). During an otter trawl survey in trawl grounds of Spencer Gulf, this species was recorded at 9 of 120 sampling sites (Currie and Sorokin, 2010), mainly in central and south-western Spencer Gulf, including areas periodically worked by prawn trawl.
In S.A., during bycatch sampling in the Blue Crab fishery between 2002 and 2005, V. conspersa was recorded in about 0.8% of all pot lifts per annum in Spencer Gulf, and between 0.4% and 1.8% of all pot lifts in Gulf St Vincent during that period (Svane and Hooper, 2004; Currie and Hooper, 2006). Numbers caught between 2002 and 2005 are as follows (Table 1)

Table 1 Bycatch of Southern Cardinalfish in the S.A. Blue Crab Fishery, 2002 – 2005
	Spencer Gulf	Gulf St Vincent
2002	0	0
2003	11	22
2004	9	4
2005	11	14
(Svane and Hooper, 2004; Currie and Hooper, 2006)

There are museum records of this species being taken by commercial fishing in the Port Phillip Bay / Bass Strait area (Anonymous, 2002b), presumably as bycatch. It is noted that the species has been recorded in the by-catch of 2-inch gillnets (Walker et al., 2003).
V. conspersa is sold in the international aquarium market, and collected in Tasmania for that purpose. The permitted total annual catch limit is 600 individuals, with a fishing block limit (6 x 6 nautical miles) of 100 individuals (DPIWE Tasmania, 2005b; Australian Government DEH, 2005b).

Recreational

The species is not targeted by fishers; however there are records of maximum sizes caught by anglers (e.g. Australian Anglers Association, 2003).
Some anglers who accidentally catch cardinalfish keep them for bait.

Vulnerable Characteristics of the Species, and Threatening Processes

Vincentia cardinalfish are benthic species, and the males are mouth-brooders (Allen, 1999). Therefore, reproduction is localised, and there is little opportunity for wide dispersal of young. Localised reproduction increases the vulnerability of species to site-associated impacts.
Southern Gobbleguts is a site-associated species in nearshore habitats (reefs, seagrass beds), a characteristic that can increase the vulnerability of such species to localised impacts.

Threatening Processes

Processes which degrade nearshore reefs and seagrass beds (e.g. dredging / channel deepening, removal of rocks and vegetation, sedimentation, eutrophication from coastal discharges etc) may adversely affect site-associated benthic fish species; however no specific data are available on the effects of such habitat degradation on Vincentia populations.
Trawling may be a threatening process, but more data (and a risk assessment) are required. Generally, populations of species in the Apogonidae are considered to be adversely affected by trawling (see Stobutski et al., 2001); however there is no specific information as to the effects of trawl bycatch on V. conspersa populations in South Australia, although this species is part of the trawl bycatch

Research Requirements

More data are required to determine the potential population impacts on V. conspersa of bycatch in prawn trawls and other fisheries. If possible, cardinalfish catches in fisheries should be recorded to species level in prawn trawls, through a bycatch observer program, so that an estimate of the catch over space and time can be made. This would help to improve knowledge of the distribution and relative abundance of Vincentia cardinalfish, as well as assisting an assessment of threatening processes.
Taxonomic work is required to determine the number of Vincentia taxa in South Australia. It is noted that are South Australian specimens that are not easily identified as either V. conspersa or V. badia using the currently available descriptions and keys. It is not known whether this is due to the inadequacy of the keys, or perhaps indicative of hybridisation or the presence of cryptic taxa (R. Foster, South Australian Museum, pers. comm., 2006).

Management Requirements

Where possible, measures to reduce the bycatch of cardinalfish in trawl fisheries are required.
Measures to reduce ongoing physical, chemical, biological and ecological degradation of estuaries may be important for populations of benthic fish associated with estuaries. Measures to restore degraded estuaries are equally significant. It is noted that an Estuaries Policy and Action Plan has recently been developed in South Australia (DEH South Australia, 2005), to address the issues of estuarine degradation and restoration, and it is important that the recommendations in this policy be implemented as far as possible by government, industry and community.
Related to the above, ongoing efforts are required to reduce the levels of degrading processes that affect nearshore reefs and seagrass beds, and to restore such habitats.
In Tasmania, where Southern Cardinalfish is taken for the aquarium industry, an assessment of the populations, and sustainability of this practice, should be undertaken.

Other Information

In Victoria, V. conspersa occurs in a number of the Marine Parks (e.g. Port Phillip Bay; Wilsons Promontory; Corner Inlet) and Marine Sanctuaries (e.g. Halfmoon Bay, in Port Phillip Bay) (O’Hara et al., 2002; Plummer et al., 2003; Edmunds et al., 2003; Hart et al., 2003).
The Victorian and South Australian forms differ in appearance, with the S.A. form being more mottled / spotted (e.g. Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994).
V. conspersa is one of the reef fish species monitored by the Reef Watch program in Victoria.
There is a similar eastern species, V. novaehollandiae, found in southern Queensland and New South Wales (Australian Museum, 2003j).
Recently, a newly described microsporidian parasite has been recorded from the subcutaneous tissue of the body and fins of Vincentia conspersa (Vagelli et al., 2005).

Support for S.A. listing:

B. McDonald, DEH, South Australia